Aaron “Homeboy” Tilley (recently of the WSJ) and Wayne Ma, at the paywalled-up-the-wazoo The Information:

Starting in 2015, Apple and Boeing held early discussions about a satellite internet project that would involve delivering full-blown wireless internet service, not just emergency communications services, to iPhones and homes, said five people involved in or briefed on the project.

Through the effort, dubbed Project Eagle within Apple, the companies would lob thousands of Boeing satellites into orbit to beam internet down to iPhones. For home users, Apple planned to offer antennas people could stick to their windows to disperse their internet connection throughout the building. (Satellite internet requires a device to have an uninterrupted line of sight to the sky.)

For the project’s champions, it was an ambitious gambit to provide a more seamless Apple experience. Some inside Apple saw mobile carriers as necessary but inconvenient partners that held the company’s iPhone plans back. With a global satellite system, Apple could provide more of the key ingredients for its products, reducing its dependency on outside partners.

The lead executive and architect behind the project was Apple’s longtime wireless chief, Rubén Caballero. Apple spent around $36 million testing out the concept at a secret location in El Segundo, Calif., the people with knowledge of the project said. The team aimed to launch the service in 2019.

But eventually Apple got cold feet. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, was concerned that the project would jeopardize the company’s relationship with the telecom industry, said people with direct knowledge of the project. It was also an expensive undertaking with an unclear near-term business case. At the end of 2016, Apple canceled the project. (Caballero left the company in 2019.)

The segment I quote here is midway through the article. It leads with purported offers from Elon Musk to Apple to rely exclusively on Starlink for satellite networking. Starlink offers a genuinely incredible service. But there’s no way Apple was going to make a get into bed together deal with Elon Musk. Starlink’s technology and satellite coverage are extraordinary, but Musk personally is just too erratic. It’s a bizarre, dare I say unprecedented, combination. He’s like Howard Hughes but with much better tech (and, perhaps, fewer bottles of his own urine strewn about his bedroom).

Josh Miller, CEO of The Browser Company, on their decision to abandon their new browser Arc in favor of going all-in on their newer browser Dia:

Early on, Scott Forstall told us Arc felt like a saxophone — powerful but hard to learn. Then he challenged us: make it a piano. Something anyone can sit down at and play. This is now the idea behind Dia: hide complexity behind familiar interfaces.

Forstall’s advice sounds perfect, but I don’t know how they square this with the people — and I know a few — who went all-in on Arc personally. Like the old “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” adage, how do you commit to a new browser from the same people who just pulled the rug out from under you on their last one?

I’ve been giving Tripp Mickle quite a bit of grief over his dumb “Is Trump’s ‘Made in America’ iPhone a Fantasy?” story, but this is an interesting nugget I haven’t seen anyone else highlight:

In the run-up to President Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East, the White House encouraged chief executives and representatives of many U.S. companies to join him. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, declined, said two people familiar with the decision.

The choice appeared to irritate Mr. Trump. As he hopscotched from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Trump took a number of shots at Mr. Cook. During his speech in Riyadh, Mr. Trump paused to praise Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, for traveling to the Middle East along with the White House delegation. Then he knocked Mr. Cook.

“I mean, Tim Cook isn’t here but you are,” Mr. Trump said to Mr. Huang at an event attended by chief executives like Larry Fink of the asset manager BlackRock, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Jane Fraser of Citigroup and Lisa Su of the semiconductor company AMD.

The presumption here is that Trump’s (possibly illegal) threats of applying a 25% tariff on all imported iPhones, no matter where they’re assembled, are payback for Cook declining to attend this trip in Trump’s entourage of CEOs. When you cave to a bully/extortionist, the bullying/extortion don’t stop. Apple doesn’t really have any significant business interests in countries like Saudi Arabia or Qatar, and it’s not hard to see why an even vaguely ethical business leader would not want to cozy up with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Maybe Cook was just busy. But maybe Cook, just 100-some days into the Trump 2.0 administration, is already past his “look, he won the election, let’s give him a chance” stage.

Max Roberts:

I hate to say it, but the Puzzmo app is not a good experience. It is a real shame that Zach and team launched it in this state. What makes the shame heavier is that Zach is a superb designer. I know he works with excellent designers too. The team has fallen short in an off-putting way.

Thankfully, Gruber is not a betting man.

I have to say, I do like having a Puzzmo app, but I don’t think the experience is that much better than the web app version.

Stephen Hackett, proprietor of 512 Pixels and co-founder of Relay (purveyor of many fine podcasts), joins the show. Topics include: IO (or if you will, io), the new joint venture of OpenAI and Jony Ive’s LoveFrom; the sheer fantasy of “Made in America” iPhones; and Fortnite’s return to the US App Store.

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